Simple Veggie Soup

For anyone who is a fan of my blog - I apologize, but I will be taking a brief hiatus until school is finished; I am really bogged down with grading and lessons...but stay tuned once the summer arrives!

Have you ever looked in your fridge and realized you had a bunch of vegetables that would soon rot if gone unconsumed?  This happens to me ALL the time!  A frustrating idea - throwing food and money into the literal trash. I find soup to be an easy way to use up these veggies and make a great meal-filler.

Feel free to be creative about the vegetables you choose - except the onion, carrots, and celery are a must-have as a soup base. You can add potatoes instead of pasta, if you want the soup itself to be heartier.

Serving Size: 10. Weight Watchers Points Plus Per Serving: 3; With Pasta: 8

Ingredients

•  8 cups of tap water
•       1 bay leaf
•       1 teaspoon salt
•       1-2 teaspoons of pepper
•       1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
•       1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
•       1 onion
•       3 Tblsp Olive Oil
•       2 Tblsp Better-than-Bouillon Chicken Flavor 
•       10 Celery Stalks
•        1/2 pound baby carrots
•        1 zucchini
•        3/4--1 pound green beans
•        1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
•        1 small can of mushrooms (drained)
•        1/2 pound Angel Hair spaghetti (broken into 1-2 inch pieces)

Instructions

• Wash and chop up all the vegetables, including the onion. Saute onion and oil in a large pot. Once onion is browned, add all vegetables, bouillon, and water. Add all spices and the bay leaf. (Make sure you take the bay leaf out once the soup is cooked.)  Let simmer on medium heat for about 40 minutes. It's okay to cook a little longer, but the vegetables should be tender-crisp.  In a separate pot, boil water and cook pasta. (Keep pasta separate.) Once ready to serve, add pasta to a bowl and soup on top - mix in each separate bowl. Add salt & pepper to taste.  I like to add about a tablespoon of parmesan in each person's bowl for an extra kick.